


It Happened One Morning

by elaine



Category: due South
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-04-22
Updated: 1999-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 05:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14395275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elaine/pseuds/elaine
Summary: Ben and Ray wake up in bed together. Now if only they could remember what happened the night before.If Due South were a 1940's romcom movie...





	It Happened One Morning

Someone was beating a drum. It felt more like a sensation than an actual sound, and the rhythm didn't vary. Gradually the drumbeat became more insistent, almost painful, and Ben moved slightly, protestingly. That was a mistake. The drumbeat rose to a crescendo and he realised it was the pounding of his own head.

With a muffled complaint, he opened his eyes. That was an even bigger mistake. Shards of light stabbed at his unprotected eyeballs. He felt sick. Actually, he felt really sick. Which couldn't possibly be as bad as the taste in his mouth right now. Ben forced himself to take a few deep breaths. The pain receded slightly, but not the nausea. Not at all. He rolled off the bed and staggered to the bathroom. Luckily he'd been positioned on the right side of the bed to reach the bathroom most easily. Otherwise he might never have got there in time. Or at all.

It was a nasty interlude, but soon over. That was his only consolation. A double handful of cold water on his face roused him a little from the semi-stupor he still suffered from. But that only made him more aware of the foul taste in his mouth, and the gritty feeling in his eyes. A quick glance in the mirror (he had no stomach for more than that) showed that his eyes were indeed bloodshot. He shivered suddenly, only then realising that he was naked. Alone in the bathroom though he was, he blushed.

There was something nagging at the back of his mind. It wasn't just that he had no idea how he'd got here. Or, indeed, where he was… From stories he'd heard from other, less… restrained colleagues, he recognised the symptoms of a hangover, but was at a loss to explain how he'd got into a situation of which a hangover was the natural consequence. In fact he had no memory of the previous evening at all. Nothing after Ray had picked him up from the Consulate at the end of his shift.

The sense of disquiet, at first almost subliminal, deepened considerably. Ray. Now why should the thought of his friend make him so uneasy? Try as he might, he couldn't think of anything. Well, he could hardly think at all. He shivered again. Perhaps he should go back to bed and lie down for a while.

*

Ray groaned softly. Even that was too loud. What the hell had he been doing to get into a state like this? He must have really tied one on last night, not that he could remember, but still… He hadn't done this in a long time. Not since he decided that he didn't want to go the same way as his father.

How had he ended up in this place? He looked blearily around the room, noting with some disfavour the cheap, and stained, wallpaper, the grotty furniture, the faded curtains. The soft sound of a toilet flushing made him flinch. Oh God, he hadn't picked up a woman, had he? He turned his head towards the sound hoping it might be from the next room in this cheap-looking hotel. A slightly open door met his gaze. Not the next room then. He heard the sound of a tap running. She'd be coming out soon.

He racked his brains trying to come up with any kind of mental image of her face, because the chance of his ever remembering her name was completely non-existent. No luck there. Maybe it was someone he knew. Ray brightened at that thought. Yeah, if it was someone he knew, he'd be off the hook. He hoped to God it wouldn't be Louise though… she already had a low enough opinion of him.

The door swung open. It was someone he knew…

'Benny?' His voice was just a squeak.

*

A discreet tap at the door. 'Room service.'

What a joke… Service? In this cruddy place? 'Come in, door's open.'

Ray had taken the precaution of unlocking it after he'd ordered the coffee. There was no sign of his clothes and there was no way he was getting out of bed, naked, to let the guy in. Beside him in the bed, Ben was no more than a large lump under the blankets. Not even a strand of his dark hair could be seen. He was probably still blushing. Ray had never seen anyone blush all over their body before.

Luckily, his wallet was on the bedside cabinet. Ray tossed the waiter, if you could call him that, a few bucks for his trouble and outstared the smug-looking bastard. The door closed quietly behind him.

'You can come out now.' Ray winced slightly. That hadn't been such a great turn of phrase, given the circumstances. His only consolation was that Benny wasn't likely to get the double meaning. He hoped.

A quick surge under the covers and Ben erupted from them looking distinctly tousled. Even with bloodshot eyes, he still looked great. Ray hastily abandoned that line of thought. This was definitely not the time to be thinking things like that.

Ray took a slug of coffee and nearly spat it out. It was even worse than the swill that came out of the coffee machines at work. 'You still can't remember anything, Benny?'

Ben shook his head. 'I'm not entirely sure why you'd want me to, Ray. But no. I don't.'

'Uh…' Ray's jaw dropped slightly. Damn, now he was blushing. 'I meant how we got here. Not what we did after…'

'Oh!' Ben was scarlet now. 'I don't suppose there's any doubt… No. I suppose not.'

'Well, you'd better drink that coffee, if you think you can stand it. And then we'd better find out where our clothes are.'

A quick call to reception solved that little mystery. Their clothes had been sent out for early morning dry-cleaning and had just arrived back. As he absent-mindedly watched Ben disappear into the bathroom for his shower, Ray reflected that it wasn't even the fact that he'd spent the night with a man that bothered him so much. No, it was the fact they'd woken up with cheap wedding rings on their fingers. That was scary.

*

There was a small commotion at the double doors to the Bullpen. Jack Huey looked up in time to see Vecchio and the Mountie burst through the doors in full flight arguing over something" They came to a sudden stop as every head in the room turned towards them and the Mountie turned bright red. Vecchio rolled his eyes. 'So what are you all looking at?'

Whether anybody would have answered would never be known. The door to Lieutenant Welsh's office opened quietly and the Lieutenant himself stood in the doorway surveying the room. 'Ah, Vecchio. So you finally decided to grace us with your presence.'

'That's right, sir.' Vecchio looked warily at his boss.

It cut no ice with Welsh. 'My office, gentlemen. The rest of you get back to work.'

Jack sniggered quietly to himself as the pair headed reluctantly towards the office. After what had happened at the party last night, they had plenty to be worried about…

*

Lieutenant Welsh watched as his office door closed behind Vecchio's back with a decided snap. He always got a perverse satisfaction out of dressing down the Detective and Big Red, and today's little session had been better than most. It had quickly become obvious, however much they tried to hide it, that they had no recollection of the previous evening. He smiled slightly. This situation couldn't be allowed to continue indefinitely, but it was going to be fun while it lasted…

*

Across the room Louis Gardino bent over and spoke to his partner. They both looked over towards Ray and Ben, and burst out laughing.

Ray cursed under his breath. 'How much do you think they know, Benny?'

'I have no idea, Ray. I know as much, or as little, as you do.' Ben was finding it difficult to raise his eyes from his tightly clasped hands. Every time he heard an unexpected sound, and there were a lot of unexpected sounds in the Bullpen, he flinched painfully. His head was still aching abominably, making him wonder why anybody would ever get drunk more than once in their life.

'Hello, Fraser. How are you today?' Elaine's normally friendly tone was… well, different, today.

Ben looked up and tried a smile. It felt strange on his face, as though the muscles had forgotten how to do it properly. Elaine stared coldly back at him. Then her eyes dropped to his hands and widened suddenly. Ben looked down and then hurriedly tugged off the brassy-looking ring on his left ring finger. Ray had told him to take it off, but in the rush to get to work on time, he'd forgotten.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ray roll his own eyes and caught a muttered 'Oh great!'

Luckily, since he was quite incapable of speaking, Elaine retreated precipitately. As she turned away, he thought he saw a hint of tears in her eyes and her shoulders were definitely beginning to shake.

'Oh, dear. Ray, it seems as though Elaine is quite upset. Do you think she knows?'

Ray flung up his hands. 'Of course she knows, Fraser! The question is, how much does she know?'

Oh dear. Ray seemed to be at least as upset as Elaine… Ben sought safety in a blank look. Another burst of laughter from Huey and Gardino made him flinch again.

*

Elaine rushed into the women's rest room and slammed the cubicle door behind her. She closed the lid and sank down on it, dropping her head into her hands. She'd nearly given way when she saw that tacky wedding ring on Fraser's finger.

Of course she knew what had been going on, she'd been at the party last night. She just hadn't expected that. Just the thought of it sent a fresh shudder through her and her shoulders began to shake again.

It took a while to get herself under control. Finally she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She'd have to go back out there. Hopefully, Fraser would be gone. She could manage Ray, but the sight of Fraser would be more than she could handle. Her cheek quivered and she repressed it sternly and took a deep breath. She could do this.

*

Being in Benny's apartment was making Ray very nervous. It didn't seem to matter where he was in the room, he always had a clear view of the bed. For such a small bed, it was incredibly difficult to ignore.

Dief was staring at him. Ray tried to avoid looking in his direction, but it was surprisingly difficult. Every so often he'd glance across the room to see if the wolf had given up, only to find himself trapped in that unwavering stare. 'What?!'

'Just ignore him, Ray. I really don't see why he should be so upset. After all, he's always said he likes you. And wolves… umm…'

Ray let out a long-suffering sigh. 'Wolves what, Benny?'

'Ahh… Ray, are you sure you want to know?'

'Well, you're the one who brought it up, Fraser. What do wolves do?' Ray scowled across at his so-called best friend and wondered what he saw in him. Not that he wasn't incredibly good-looking, and he was, without any doubt, the world's nicest person. Loyal, too… Smart. Honest. And a lot of the things that used to annoy him about Benny he now found quite… endearing. Like the way he had of raising both his eyebrows with that cute look on his face…

'Well, Ray, wolves… some of them, at least, mate with their own… uh… gender.'

Ray mentally wiped his last thoughts from his mind and consigned them to the darkest depths of his memory. Fraser had to be the most annoying man in the world. 'You're kidding me, right? Gay wolves?'

'No, Ray.'

'Jeez. Like I really needed to hear that.'

Ben sighed. 'Sorey, Ray.'

'You should be. And you…' Ray turned to Dief… 'just cut it out, OK?'

Dief whined contemptuously and lay down with his head turned away.

'Oh, thank you, Ray. Now you've offended him.'

'Good.'

Ben sighed sharply. 'That's easy for you to say. You don't have to live with him. Ingrate.'

The last word was muttered under his breath.

Ray's head snapped round. 'What?'

'Oh, not you, Ray. Dief.'

'Oh. OK.' Ray thought for a while. 'Ya know, Benny, I wouldn't worry about all this. It'll blow over.'

'You think so, Ray?'

'Oh sure. By tomorrow, they'll have forgotten all about it.'

*

Ray had been a little optimistic, Ben thought. Three days later, Ray was looking even more harassed than ever. Ben had been avoiding the Precinct since he realised that Huey and Gardino's continual sniggering might drive him to unbecoming behaviour. Not to mention the fact that Elaine refused to speak to him at all. Every time she saw him she would turn away, her shoulders trembling. Sometimes she would simply rush out of the room, returning later looking rather teary-eyed. Ben found her distress most upsetting.

'How has your day been, Ray?' Perhaps they'd got tired of taunting him.

Ray groaned. 'Don't ask, Benny. I wish I could stay away like you.'

Or perhaps not…

'I thought you said…'

'Don't start with me, Benny. I get enough of that at work. Do you know what they did to me today?'

'Well, I could hardly know that, Ray, since you haven't told me.' It was a reasonable enough observation, Ben thought, but Ray's face darkened alarmingly. 'Why don't you tell me, Ray.'

Ray scowled. 'Look at this.'

He pulled a card out of his pocket and held it out. Ben took it rather gingerly. It was a wedding card, but the bride and groom had been covered over by a picture of himself and Ray. He sighed. At least it wasn't as bad as the wedding license they'd found that first day. He still hadn't found out who had forged their signatures so accurately that for a long, terrible moment he'd believed it was real.

Ben looked across at Ray, but Ray wouldn't meet his eyes. With a sinking feeling, he knew that he'd have to say something. Ray obviously wasn't going to, and their relationship… friendship, he amended hastily, was starting to suffer under the strain.

'Would you like to come upstairs, Ray?'

Ray glanced at him quickly, then looked away again. 'Do you think I oughta? Your neighbours haven't heard about this, have they?'

'Not as far as I'm aware, Ray. Please. We ought to talk.'

Ray looked alarmed. 'Whaddaya mean? Talk about what?'

Ben sighed. 'Ray, I really don't think this is the place…'

Reminded of where they were, Ray glared wildly around them, checking that nobody was standing too close. 'Oh. OK.'

Ben stood back politely to allow Ray to go up the steps of his apartment building ahead of him.

*

Ray fidgeted. Benny was over in the kitchen area making coffee. Suddenly, it seemed way too domesticated for him. Almost everything about this situation was making him nervous as hell, especially the way Benny seemed to be taking it so calmly. Compared to him, at least. 'So, Benny. What you want to talk about anyway?' Might as well get it over with…

Ben brought the coffee over to him. 'Well, Ray, I've been doing some… ah… research, and I've reached some conclusions.'

'Conclusions about what, Benny?' Ray looked at his friend warily.

Ben blushed. 'About the other night, Ray. The one we can't remember.'

Oh, no. This was the last thing he needed right now. 'Do I really want to hear them, Benny? Coz, I warn you, I'm not feeling real happy right now.'

'Well, I think you'll be quite pleased by one of them, Ray. I'm not so sure about the other one.'

Ray groaned and dropped his head in his hands. He hated it when Benny got like this. The trouble was, he was just too hard to resist in this mood. Like a cat that's brought you a dead mouse and just can't believe you really don't want it. 'So this is like a good news/bad news kind of thing, huh, Benny?'

Benny's face went blank for a moment as he considered this, then he gave a tiny shrug. 'I suppose so, Ray.'

'Fine. Start with the good news then, and if I don't like that, we can skip the bad news.'

'All right, Ray.' Ben took a deep breath. 'I've being making some calculations, based on our respective body masses, and the amount of alcohol required to render us so… ah… inebriated… that we wouldn't be able to remember the circumstances leading up to…'

'Can we just talk in English here, Benny?'

'Sorey, Ray. Well, to cut a long story short, I believe that the amount of alcohol we must have drunk would also render us incapable, Ray.'

'Incapable?'

'Yes, Ray. Incapable. Incapable of… you know.'

'Oh. That.'

'Yes, Ray. On the balance of probability. Besides…' Ben blushed furiously. 'I really should have thought of it at the time… I can't understand why I didn't. Well, apart from the fact that I had a hangover. Which I've never experienced…'

'Benny!'

'Evidence, Ray.' Benny looked at him expectantly. 'There was no… um… evidence. Physical evidence.'

Oh. Ray got what Ben was trying to say. He kind of wished he hadn't. 'So, you don't think we… you know… Did It?'

'I think it's very unlikely, Ray.'

'Oh.' Ray pondered that for a while.

Benny was watching him curiously. 'Do you want to hear the… um, the bad news, Ray?'

Oh, why not. God knew the good news had been embarrassing enough, why not risk more humiliation? 'Sure. Go ahead, Benny.'

'Well, Ray, I've also had time to consider the other circumstances surrounding this somewhat embarrassing situation…'

'What other circumstances? We can't remember anything!' Ray straightened in his chair, then added a belated, 'Thank God.'

Benny looked at him reproachfully. 'We can deduce things, Ray.'

'What things?' Ray was beginning to regret this already.

'Well, firstly, it's pretty obvious that at least some of your friends from the Precinct…' He caught Ray's glare. 'Our friends, I mean… Well, some of them must have been present. Otherwise they wouldn't have known about what happened. Or didn't happen, if you like.'

'OK. I guess we can assume that. Go on.'

'We can also assume that our behaviour was such that gave them reason to believe we… ah…'

Ray interrupted again, he was getting pretty sick of hearing about this. 'Yeah, yeah. Don't go on about it! What's this supposed to prove?'

'Well, it doesn't prove anything, Ray.' Ben's brow wrinkled slightly. 'But it does raise some questions in my mind. I've been thinking about it quite a lot, actually.'

Jeez, Benny could be annoying! 'Thinking about what, Frasier?'

Ben stared back at him in mild surprise. 'We're both heterosexual, Ray.'

'So?'

'It's a well known fact, Ray, that alcohol does not induce uncharacteristic behaviour, it simply relaxes inhibitions, allowing people to act in a way they would not otherwise consider acceptable. In vino veritas, as they say.'

'You don't need to tell me that. I'm the Italian here. So what?'

'Well, if we're both heterosexual, and not attracted to each other…'

'We're not!'

'…then why did we end up in bed together?'

*

The apartment had been silent for a long time. Ben leaned back against the wall and glanced cautiously in Ray's direction. Ray was standing about as far away as he could possibly get without going near the bed. Ben averted his eyes hastily when he met a brooding stare. He'd thought Ray was going to hit him for a while. He waited a while and risked another glance.

Ray glared at him. 'Aren't ya gonna say something?'

'I'd rather not, Ray.'

Ray muttered something under his breath. All Ben could make out was 'damn Mounties'. He paced up and down a few times then rounded on the nervous Canadian. 'Where do you get off making a comment like that?' Ray's voice rose with each word until Ben was wincing.

'It was merely an observation, Ray.' Ben watched his friend warily.

'Oh great.' Ray flung his arms around a bit. 'Any other observations you wanna make, Frasier?'

'Uh… No, Ray.' Too late. Ray had noticed his hesitation. Ben backed away slightly.

'Frasier!'

Oh, dear… 'Well, Ray, I couldn't help noticing… I could have been mistaken, of course… In fact, I'm sure… Well, perhaps…' He floundered to a halt and pleaded silently with Ray not to push it.

It didn't work. 'Frasier… you better tell me.' Ray's voice sounded distinctly threatening.

Ben swallowed. 'I just… well, it appeared to me that you were disappointed, Ray, when I told you about the… um… lack of… uh… physical evidence.'

He ducked, just in time.

Fortunately, Ray managed to restrain himself after that one swing. They stared at each other in shock, breathing fast, and finally Ray looked away.

'Sorry, Benny.'

Ben heaved a silent sigh of relief. 'That's quite all right, Ray. I didn't mean to provoke you.'

'Yeah, well, maybe you were right.' Ray threw a quick look at him.

Ben stood very still and kept his face blank, not willing to risk saying the wrong thing. His mind was racing. Did Ray mean… He didn't know what Ray meant, or what he wanted Ben to do about it. Nor was he willing to ask and risk alienating his friend still further.

'Aw, come on, Benny. Don't tell me you never wondered… What it would be like, I mean. You know… doing it with a guy.'

'No, Ray. Never.' Ben's heart seemed to be located at the base of his throat, which he knew was a physical impossibility. He swallowed with difficulty. 'However, since the events of last week… well, I have to admit that I've… speculated…' His voice faded to a whisper, barely audible. '…speculated about what it would be like to, uh, do it with you…'

*

Sometime later, Ray tried to lift his head from the bare shoulder beneath it. He failed. 'Wow, Benny…'

A soft, satisfied moan was the only reply. Ray smiled and nuzzled the warm skin. Somebody should have warned him about Mounties. Making love with Benny had been a wild, sweaty, glorious roller-coaster ride. Who would have thought? Certainly not him. With an effort, he managed to lever himself up onto one elbow.

Blue, dreamy eyes, flushed cheeks and tousled hair… oh man. Imagine waking up to that sight every morning. Ray blinked. He wasn't quite ready to go there. Benny smiled up at him and Ray melted. 'You liked that, huh, Benny?'

The smile widened slightly. 'That would be an understatement, Ray.'

'OK. Maybe we could do it again sometime.' Ray watched Benny carefully, not yet ready to push his luck.

'I'd like that, Ray.' Benny smiled again, rather… intimately. 'Did you have any particular time in mind?'

Oh, the hell with it. Ray threw caution to the winds. 'How about you give me half an hour?'

'Fifteen minutes.' A strong arm encircled his neck and drew him down. 'What shall we do while we're waiting, Ray?'

*

Louis Gardino stared across at Vecchio's empty desk. He wished the Detective would turn up to work. Lieutenant Welsh had put his foot down and demanded that they end their little game with Vecchio and the Mountie, but he'd hoped to get in one last jibe before he and Jack had to confess to setting them up in that seedy hotel room. If Vecchio didn't come to work soon, the twelve o'clock deadline would come and go and he'd miss his chance.

He exchanged glances with Jack and sighed. Across the room Elaine caught his eye and shook her head. Looked like Vecchio's cell-phone was still turned off. Damn, but it had been fun for them all while it lasted. Elaine had come close to giving it all away several times by bursting into laughter. Louis grinned at the memory of their haunted, hung-over faces that first morning…

The door opened quietly and Ray Vecchio wandered in, looking remarkably relaxed. He walked past Elaine without seeming to notice her and went over to his desk, picking up a folder apparently at random and burying his nose in it. Louis watched, fascinated. What the hell was going on now?

Half an hour later, when the Mountie came in, Ray hadn't so much as turned a page, at least as far as Gardino could tell. This was even more interesting than their game. He nudged Jack and they both watched Fraser as he crossed the room. When he reached Vecchio's desk, the Detective looked up at him with a silly smile on his face.

'Come on, Louis.' Jack stood and made his way over to the pair, intent on continuing the teasing. Louis followed hurriedly. Elaine was headed in their direction, too. 'So, how are the two lovebirds?'

Jack's rich bass voice startled the unsuspecting victims. Vecchio just about fell out of his chair, and the Mountie turned bright red. Then Vecchio surprised them all by reaching out to take hold of Fraser's hand. 'Oh, we're just fine, thanks. Aren't we, Benny?'

Louis's jaw dropped. Vecchio was just calling their bluff, wasn't he? He must have figured it out. Elaine's eyes were huge and even Jack looked like he was at a loss. That was the moment that Lieutenant Welsh chose to come out of his office. Fraser surreptitiously pulled his hand free of Vecchio's.

'So, you've told them?' Their blank looks were answer enough. Welsh sighed. 'Huey!'

'Yessir.' Huey flinched. 'We were just going to do it, sir.'

'Well, get on with it.'

Louis hardly heard his partner's stumbling explanation, he was too busy watching the play of emotions over Vecchio's mobile face… disbelief, shock, consternation… He exchanged glances with the Canadian. Louis thought Fraser looked even more disconcerted.

Vecchio forced a smile. 'Oh, very funny. I can't believe we fell for that. Can you, Benny?'

'Oh! Oh… no, Ray… It does seem rather silly of us.' Fraser's voice was hollow.

Louis hung back as the others moved away, laughing at their joke, and heard Ray's unusually quiet voice. 'Don't worry, Benny. It doesn't change anything… does it?'

Fraser's voice was eager. 'Oh, no, Ray. Not at all!'

Back at his desk, Louis sat digesting what he'd seen and heard. They'd done it. He was absolutely certain of it. Even now they were leaning close together, talking and smiling adoringly at each other. Jeez, how had Vecchio done that? True the Mountie was as green as they come, but he was also the most gorgeous thing on two legs Gardino had ever seen in his life. The only explanation he could think of was the cop's native Italian charm and sex appeal. And if a scrawny bad-tempered guy like Vecchio could get all that male beauty into his bed, surely he, Louis Gardino, who was just as Italian, and better looking to boot, could…

He looked over at his partner. Jack was staring at Vecchio and the Mountie, a slightly bewildered look on his face.

'Hey, Jack. You wanna go for a drink after work tonight?'

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
